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Biography Seminar

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The New England Biography Seminar is a forum for writers and readers alike to engage in an ongoing discussion about the historical, literary, and methodological questions that make biography a challenging and rewarding undertaking. By providing an opportunity for those interested in the craft of biography to convene and converse, the seminar aspires to create a community that will support biographical works in progress and serve as a seedbed for future projects.

Leading authors of the genre will offer their insights and inspiration in a setting designed to generate conversation between panelists and the audience. This seminar will feature roundtable discussions rather than focus on pre-circulated papers or formal remarks. Plan to make new acquaintances and continue the conversation by joining us for the light buffet supper that follows each program.

Schedule

Biography Seminar Symphony and Song: Writing Lives in Music 4 October 2012. Thursday, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Judith Tick, Northeastern University; Jan Swafford, The Boston Conservatory; and Tim Riley, Emerson College Moderator: Megan Marshall, Emerson College

Join us to discuss the process of writing biography with these panelists, who will share their perspectives based on their extensive publications in the fields of classical and popular music.

Tim Riley is an NPR critic and the author of Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music—The Definitive Life (2011). His other books include Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary (1999), Madonna: Illustrated (1992), and Fever: How Rock 'n' Roll Transformed Gender in America (2005).

Jan Swafford is a composer and author. He has written the biography Charles Ives: A Life with Music (1998), which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award, and Johannes Brahms: A Biography (1999). He is presently completing a biography of Beethoven.

Judith Tick is a leading authority on the history of women in music. She is the author, with Gail Levin, of Aaron Copland’s America: A Cultural Perspective (2000). She is also the author of the biography Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer’s Search for American Music (1997) and is currently working on a biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Her book Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion (2008) provides several of the selections for this session’s supplementary readings.

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Biography Seminar Biographers' Round Table: A Conversation with Stacy Schiff 24 January 2013. Thursday, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Stacy Schiff, Pulitizer-Prize winning author Moderator: Susan Ware

Pulitizer-Prize winning author Stacy Schiff will discuss her career as a writer and biographer in conversation with Susan Ware.

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Biography Seminar Subjects in Context: The Role of Place in the Writing of Biography 21 March 2013. Thursday, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Carla Kaplan, Diane McWhorter, and Lois Rudnick Moderator: Carol Bundy

Join us for a panel discussion featuring Carla Kaplan, who will talk about her forthcoming book on white women in the Harlem Renaissance; Diane McWhorter, who will discuss the civil rights struggle and the growth of the military-industrial complex in postwar Alabama; and Lois Rudnick, who will reflect on Mabel Dodge Luhan and her circle of friends in New Mexico.

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More events
4 October 2012 Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Biography Seminar

Symphony and Song: Writing Lives in Music

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Judith Tick, Northeastern University; Jan Swafford, The Boston Conservatory; and Tim Riley, Emerson College Moderator: Megan Marshall, Emerson College

Join us to discuss the process of writing biography with these panelists, who will share their perspectives based on their extensive publications in the fields of classical and popular music.

Tim Riley is an NPR critic and the author of Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music—The Definitive Life (2011). His other books include Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary (1999), Madonna: Illustrated (1992), and Fever: How Rock 'n' Roll Transformed Gender in America (2005).

Jan Swafford is a composer and author. He has written the biography Charles Ives: A Life with Music (1998), which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award, and Johannes Brahms: A Biography (1999). He is presently completing a biography of Beethoven.

Judith Tick is a leading authority on the history of women in music. She is the author, with Gail Levin, of Aaron Copland’s America: A Cultural Perspective (2000). She is also the author of the biography Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer’s Search for American Music (1997) and is currently working on a biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Her book Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion (2008) provides several of the selections for this session’s supplementary readings.

24 January 2013 Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Biography Seminar

Biographers' Round Table: A Conversation with Stacy Schiff

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Stacy Schiff, Pulitizer-Prize winning author Moderator: Susan Ware

Pulitizer-Prize winning author Stacy Schiff will discuss her career as a writer and biographer in conversation with Susan Ware. 

Stacy Schiff's most recent book is Cleopatra: A Life (2010), which was named one of the New York Times Book Review's top ten books of the year.  Her previous books include A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America (2005), Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabakov): Portrait of a Marriage (1999), which won the Pulitizer Prize, and Saint-Exupery: A Biography (1994). 

Susan Ware is an independent scholar who specializes in twentieth-century U.S. History, women's history, and biography.  Her most recent book is Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports (2011).

21 March 2013 Seminars are free and open to the public; RSVP required. Biography Seminar

Subjects in Context: The Role of Place in the Writing of Biography

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Carla Kaplan, Diane McWhorter, and Lois Rudnick Moderator: Carol Bundy

Join us for a panel discussion featuring Carla Kaplan, who will talk about her forthcoming book on white women in the Harlem Renaissance; Diane McWhorter, who will discuss the civil rights struggle and the growth of the military-industrial complex in postwar Alabama; and Lois Rudnick, who will reflect on Mabel Dodge Luhan and her circle of friends in New Mexico.


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